Nazila Isgandarova
CSW57 is full of excitements and experiences. I represented National Council of Women of Canada and Canadian Council of Muslim Women. Starting from the first day, I wanted to attend as many workshops and conferences as possible organized by the government and NGO representatives.
On March 4, I attended the conference “Legal Reforms and Best Practices,” where the Turkish government together with the Netherlands, UK, and Azerbaijan presented their reports. The government delegations of the Netherlands and UK reported that they see domestic violence as a violation of basic human rights. Hon. Fatma Sahin, Minister of Family and Social Policies of Turkey, reported that how Turkey improved the legal system, and socioeconomic and political protection of battered women. Hon. Fatma Sahin discussed that eliminating and preventing all forms of violence against women and girls necessitates a holistic approach. Therefore, the Turkish government attempts to involve many sectors of the society, including non-governmental organizations, local administrations, the media and the private sector to tackle the violence against women.
Ms. Aynur Sofiyeva, deputy minister of State committee on Women and Family Affairs presented her report about the legal practices against domestic violence and the situation of 500, 000 refugee women who were subject of physical and sexual abuse of Armenian soldiers in Karabagh. However, she failed to touch the structural problems in Azerbaijan that breed domestic violence against women by police, and other government institutions. Therefore, I asked Ms. Aynur Sofiyeva to bring clarification on political prisoners, especially female prisoners for their political views and whether the government will create a democratic environment that will eliminate violence against women. However, Ms. Aynur Sofiyeva denied the fact that Azerbaijan has a political prisoner problem.
There were questi...
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by Nazila Isgandarova*
http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=300558
9 December 2012
A few days ago, the behavior of a little Palestinian girl joined by other children in her village was caught on video and went viral. The video demonstrated how this little girl was trying to bait Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. She was seen screaming at them and calling them “traitors,” expressing her wish to “smash their heads.” This video drew the attention of millions around the world.
Many comments on the video called this little girl a “brave young lady.” A senior Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official commented that the video was purposefully arranged to damage the reputation of the IDF. However, that minutes-long video also illustrated an anger mixed with fear and the psychological exploitation of children in Palestine. While watching the video, I kept asking why these children exhibit such extreme anger toward the Israeli soldiers. Why are they engaged in an “adult” type of communication? What prevents them from having a healthy childhood?
The answer to these questions is the stress and anxiety the children are subjected to daily due to violence, terrorism and the threat of war in Palestine.
The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) reported that since the beginning of the last six-day crisis between Israel and Hamas, at least 26 children were killed and more than 400 injured, some gravely, by Israeli attacks on Gaza. According to the CRC, on Nov. 18, for example, 7-year-old Sara, 6-year-old Jamal, 4-year-old Yusef and 2-year-old Ibrahim all died in an attack against the suspected home of a Hamas militant, which killed at least eight members of the same family. In southern Israel, 14 Israeli children were injured by shellfire launched by Hamas. UNICEF had also drawn attention to the fact that, due...
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Dr. Nazila Isgandarova
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Saturday, 25 August 2012
http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/140875/interfaith-and-intercultural-dialogue-%E2%80%98a-big-litmus-test-for-the-eu%E2%80%99.html
Dr. Nicolas Berger, the head of Amnesty International’s (AI) European Institutions Office, told Deutsche Welle in July that the fundamental regarding the problem of refugees and asylum-seekers has not changed. In recent years, AI has also issued several statements, which criticize the EU for failing to provide a better situation to handle of North African refugees, who struggle to reach Europe by boat. The statements sounded as though the EU was losing its unquestioned and envied place among the defenders of human rights.
Dr. Berger expressed in his article Human Rights: The Basis of Harmony that anti-Semitism in increasing in EU. Both European Jews and European Muslims are subject to discrimination and are often indiscriminately associated with extremist views and violent ideologies or the situation in Middle East. Roma people and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) populations are also among the discriminated groups. However, Islamophobia in Europe is becoming worse with “a more recent phenomenon coinciding with the large-scale arrival of Muslim immigrants in most western European countries over the last 50 years.”
It is true that Europe experienced the flow of Muslim immigrants since WWII and since then, the number of Muslims increased due to family unifications and high birth rates. The first generation of Muslims who came from the rural areas of the Muslim countries was not well educated. They worked in the labour market of EU as cheap, unskilled or semi-skilled workers. In 1970s, the economic recession forced the governments bring restrictions to the admission of the cheap labour forces from the Muslim countries. In 1980 and 1990s, the refugees from...
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